I've declared war on the moon! - Doctor Who Christmas Special 2012 Prequel Minisode and Trailer

We got a prequel minisode for the Doctor Who Christmas Special!

"The Great Detective"
(Don't watch if you don't wanna be spoiled for the new companion)

It's Christmas and we're in Victorian London again – how original. But alright, I love me some “Christmas Carol” Dickensian Christmas vibe. Although, of course, we kinda already drew on that theme in the Christmas Specials 2008 and 2010. Especially in 2010, when Steven Moffat made his “Doctor Who” version of “A Christmas Carol”. But as I said: I love me some Dickensian Christmas too, so he shall be forgiven.

Madame Vastra is referred to as “The Great Detective” now? Anyone else thinking of Sherlock Holmes when reading/hearing that title? So what does that make Jenny, then? Dr. Watson? They detect, fight crime and are in a homosexual relationship. Are they now a gender- and race-swapped version of Sherlock and Watson from BBC's “Sherlock”? Who was the head writer on that one again? Oh, right...
I admit, I might have a bit of a problem with that. Simply because... how about trying to write something new?

Then again, I'm happy Vastra and Jenny are back. I loved them in “A Good Man Goes to War”. In fact, Vastra's tongue was the best thing about that episode. Please don't screw them up now. And please let the swords and the tongue action be back.

Matt Smith looks great in his mixture of a Dodger/ Ebenezer Scrooge outfit. He should be wearing a top hat more often. It's hot. (Gosh, I need to find myself a nice Victorian bloke – too bad they're all dead.)

I'm still looking forward to this year's Christmas Special very much.  

watch the trailer here

There's the promise of a new irrational fear for me. And the new companion who seems lovely. I might already like her. Then again: There's still plenty that could be screwed up about her. I liked Amy's character in the beginning too, after all. As for now, I decided to give it a chance. Series 5 was quite good after all, maybe a new companion will spice things up again and improve the show.

Bye bye Ponds - Doctor Who 7x05 "The Angels Take Manhattan" Review

Uhm... I just watched the Ponds leave Doctor Who. I would lie if I said I'm not sad. I would also lie if I said I'm not disappointed. To be honest, my expectations for “The Angels Take Manhattan” were pretty high. I thought I would be in a puddle of tears by the end of this episode. I should have known better. Don't get me wrong. Moffat tried. He just didn't fully succeed.
But let's start from the beginning.
Oh and it was a promising beginning. Some of you might know that in the past years I have developed a love for all things film noir. So, when the episode began with a film noir-ish voice over account (written on a typewriter, oh how I love that noise) by a quite handsome P.I. (Garner, I think) - well, I was hooked. Or maybe I just like a guy in a fedora. Who knows? Or more important: Who cares? Add to that that it would be an episode featuring the weeping angels, some of my favourite DW villains... this just had to be good. (And we ignore the fact that the guy hiring that P.I. looked to me like a mixture of German ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl and Michail Gorbatschow in an Al Capone outfit) The introduction had the proper noir feel mixed with some DW excitement. Gotta leave that Moffat, he did that brilliantly. Although I presume that Nick Hurran, the director of this episode, did have his fair share in creating the atmosphere as well. He did great too. So when P.I. Garner found the old version of himself in that seedy apartment block and then was trapped by the weeping angels, fleeing to the roof where we see the Statute of Liberty, probably world's biggest weeping angel, looming above him... Come on, this just had to be a great episode. Unfortunately lots of the atmosphere broke after the credits and our P.I. didn't show up again... making it a... well... alright episode.
But maybe that's just me. I still enjoyed the Doctor and the Ponds hanging out in Central Park, the Doctor annoying Amy by reading his noir crime novel (that looks a lot like a Raymond Chandler one, but obviously isn't) out loud, Amy and Rory being ridiculously cute while the Doctor acts like a child embarrassed by his parents and Rory going to get some coffee. My alarm bells went off as soon as the Doctor mentioned the female femme fatale protagonist of his novel was named “Melody Malone”. Melody? That just had to mean River Song. (I usually like being right, but that was one of the few occasions that being right meant nothing good). And... I think I gotta say sorry in advance because this is where my complaining begins.... I thought the whole “Amy is getting older” bit was a bit pointless. She's no older than Rory and nobody commented on him getting older. It's been two and a half years since Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill first appeared on Doctor Who and they have not and could not have aged that much. I know it's been longer for the Ponds. What was it? Ten years? You never really know with those time travel shows. It's all way too wibbly wobbly timey wimey (and don't think I hadn't noticed the “timey wimey” mention in this episode – well played, Moffat, especially since it was you who first brought it up in series 3 and “Blink”, the first episode featuring the weeping angels). And yes, he brought up and tried to explain the importance of the ageing bit later on in the episode (which didn't make me like it more) but let me get to this... later. As far as the Doctor's “I hate endings” (and ripping last pages out of books) goes – it was nice as a foreshadowing, although not needed. And I can see the Doctor disliking endings, because he's experienced a few. Although those are rather goodbyes, not endings of stories. And... I didn't really buy it. Because – maybe it was actually mentioned or it's just my personal head canon – I think the Doctor is or must be a sucker for happy endings and for him to hate endings in general just makes no sense to me. Plus: “Books – the best weapons in the world!” (DW 2x02 “Tooth and Claw”). Why then would you rip out pages. That is never ok. What I did like – for a change – was the idea that everything that's going to happen next is also featured in the novel. That was a nice touch. (Oh, btw., Rory, regarding your “Only you could fancy someone in a book.” comment: You have absolutely no idea how many people fancy fictional characters. No idea whatsoever!)
Oh yeah, and then Rory – dear, unsuspecting Rory – gets zapped back in time by a weeping angel and meets... River Song. Objectively, River Song does not make an episode bad. But for me, it does. I didn't mind her when she first appeared in series 4. It was fine. She was in two episodes and I thought I would never have to see her again. Hey, she died after all! (Looking a lot younger than she does now, but let's just attribute that to some timey wimey stuff and the fact that Alex Kingston isn't immune to ageing while we only get to meet younger versions of River as times goes on. That's not a point of critique, I'm reasonable enough to know that it's inevitable.) It was still ok when she showed up in series 5. I even started to develop some sympathy for her there. When series 6 really transformed into “Doctor, who? - The River Song Show” and River first happened to be Amy's and Rory's daughter and then became the Doctor's wife.... I was done with this show for a while. If I had to name my least favourite series of Doctor Who it would definitely be series 6 and River Song is one of the main reasons for that. Also, Steven Moffat's obsession with her. Seriously. Is there any episode written by Moffat that does not at least reference her? And every episode featuring her was written by Moffat. Steven, it's time to let go. What really bugs me as well is the way in which River (Alex Kingston) calls the Ponds “Mum/ Dad”  - what I hate even more is the inconsistency of it that I noticed for the time really in this episode because she sometimes referred to them as “Amy/ Rory” too. Which makes no sense if she calls them “Mum/ Dad” on other occasions. Especially now that they know. “Sweetie” has begun to really get on my nerves too, and the whole domestic husband/wife stuff between the Doctor and her. Yes, they got married, thanks to Moffat and I hate it (for various reasons but let me write an extra rent on that, it's gonna be long), but it would not be as bad if he did not constantly shove it into our faces. In the most blatant way possible. In some other shows, an occasional joke on the domestic side would be endearing, but everything gets used up eventually and thus becomes annoying, plus: this is the Doctor we're talking about here. And it's just way out of character for him. It comes across as really ooc and it only gets worse with the age difference between Matt Smith and Alex Kingston (aka Mrs. Robinson). So, thanks to Steven Moffat my dislike for River Song has gone so far that I cannot enjoy an episode with her in it. And the plot of “The Angels Take Manhattan” would have worked well without her. She was not actually needed. And her absence would have made this episode so much better. But back to the plot.
The whole “you mustn't read ahead” in the book (aka “Spoilers!”) also made total sense to me. Because once you know what is supposed to be going to happen, you either try to work towards it, or to change it. Both would be bad, because it would mess with the natural course of events. And the mention of “once you know what's coming it's written in stone” interlaced with that shot of Rory's name on a gravestone (middle name: Arthur – I see what you did there) was really nice. Good use of sound and visuals.
I'm not sure about the whole thing with the Doctor not being able to land his TARDIS in the time where Rory's been zapped to... I don't remember an occasion when the Doctor was not able to do something like that (maybe in Classic Who?) and it was not really that well explained in this episode. Plus, this while Chinese vase landing lights thing it suddenly worked? Without problems? I think it might have made sense if the episode was built upon the Doctor not being able to get to where Rory is at all. Or only in the last minute, finally. But the way it worked here, it was another thing that just seemed a bit pointless to me. It created a quick “oh no, the Doctor's not gonna be able to go save Rory” only got it to work about 5 minutes later. Now, if you only have 42-45 minutes to tell a whole story – is it really wise to just waste 5 of them? For something that was not important to either the plot or character development. And in my opinion those wasted minutes could have been put to good use giving the the Ponds a bigger, better and more emotional goodbye.
Ok, let's go on where River does not try anything to help her dad, Rory, when that collector (Mr. Kohl/Gorbatschow/Capone) has him locked up in the basement with some weeping angel babies – cherubs – and only a box of matches. By that time, River is still free. She did not even say a word! She did not seem to care. In her defense, she might not have known what's down there, but she could have figured it would not be something pleasant. Poor Rory. And he's never actually encountered the weeping angels before. He does not know about the whole “Don't blink” thing! I'm not going to comment on the fact that there suddenly are baby weeping angels. We never had them before. It's also a bit illogical that there would be the need for babies. I mean, yeah, they could be weeping angels, but just because they have the form of a cherub statue as opposed to another one does not make them real babies, does it? They're just normal angels. (I find this so weird because the Doctor, who should know things like that, also refers to them as “baby angels”)
 And then River herself gets trapped by that chipped and chained angel. Which does neither zap her into the past nor make her turn into an angel herself (remember Amy in “Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone”?). But thankfully we hear TARDIS noises and “just you wait till my husband gets home” (I think I mentioned my opinion on remarks like that above) and the landing TARDIS basically electrocutes the collecting criminal into unconsciousness. “Sorry I'm late honey. Traffic was hell” - picture me rolling my eyes and fake vomiting. And the way in which the Doctor stood really close behind River – which in other shows would be the perfect picture of seduction (plus bedroom voice) – again: so ooc for the Doctor. At least it so doesn't fit the (or my?) image of the Doctor that the show has been creating over nearly 50 years now. That “booping” of River's nose was more like the Doctor again. And... “Doctor who?” reference! Still always a delight. But... good news: River is already a professor now which means it won't be too long until she dies in the library. And before that: Let's go an break River's wrist! Now, I'm usually not a violent person but I've come to be so annoyed by that character that hurting her always seems like a good idea.
So, they use chapter titles (because they cannot read the actual book)  - good one, Amy! - to find where Rory should have been in the basement but has been zapped away (as we find out a bit later, to that place where we last saw P.I. Garner in the introduction). And the Doctor spoils himself by reading the last two chapter titles “Death at Winter Quay” and “Amelia's Last Farewell” - again with the foreshadowing. He gets mad and tells River to get her wrist out of the angel's grip without breaking it (as opposed to what was written in the novel). I still think the episode could have worked well without River, but having River there, this scene was the one that made the best use of her in my opinion. Because the Doctor is getting mad shows how afraid he is that something is gonna happen to the Ponds. And he does not want that. He does not want to lose them. Instead of resigning and being sad, he becomes mad because he knows he actually cannot change what's written there. Instead, he wants River to change it, to change the course of events by not breaking her wrist. It's his last and only hope. But she fails. River has to break her own wrist (as written in the novel), then tries to hide it from the Doctor – he finds out of course, though. And I thought it was because she does not want the Doctor to know that she failed in changing the future, but her reason for hiding it is that “when one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a 12-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage”. So much wrong with that. Hiding it because she does not want to seem vulnerable? Damaged? And, as it seems when she explains to Amy later, aged? That's not something that would matter to the Doctor. You can be vulnerable. He would not like humans as much as he does if he didn't accept that. Yes, they often put a brave face on for him, but... well, oftentimes they simply are that brave. And being hurt is not a sign of weakness for him. I also won't believe that the Doctor cares about age. And because he doesn't like endings, he would switch his companions for younger ones. He'd never do that. He'd never voluntarily give up on one of his companions. And he traveled with people of pretty much all ages – he would have taken young Amelia, but he also had Wilfred Mott and Brian Williams on board and never commented on their age. The way River delivered this it just seems to be like Demi Moore trying to look and act younger for Ashton Kutcher so he won't leave her for someone younger and prettier. River just has a problem with getting older while the Doctor's face is getting younger. That's plain vanity. And the Doctor certainly is no “god” either. He is flawed, and he knows it. He certainly does not see himself as a god. And River seeing him as a god – well, how does that make her look her? She's supposed to come across as a strong, independent female and Moffat does so many things that make me, as a woman, cringe because she's so fixated on the Doctor almost like Twilight's Bella is on Edward. And now she even worships him as a god? That's just too much. But the worst moment was when the Doctor uses regeneration energy to heal her wrist. Is that even possible?! When has he done that before?! We saw people die on this show! And also: Why didn't he use his regeneration energy to heal Donna's brain so he would not have to wipe her memories? I mean... WHAT THE EFFING FUCK, MOFFAT?! What are you doing? (And I so hope this won't be a new thing: the Doctor has an actual healer.)
But let's comment on the better stuff as well. Like Amy finding Rory as well as old!Rory at Winter Quay. And yes, old, dying Rory being so happy to just be able to see Amy once more before dying made me tear up a little bit. Or would have, if the moment hadn't been over already before I was fully able to process it and interrupted by the Doctor's explanation of the building being a food source for the angels. I liked Amy taking (our) Rory's hand saying she “won't let them [the angels] take him” and them running away together. At this point I stopped caring about what happened the Doctor and River.
The Ponds on the roof. Oh my god, the Ponds on the roof. Best scene of the whole episode, if you ask me. I loved Rory's dry “I always wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty. I guess she got impatient”. And then his plan to actually kill himself by jumping off the roof to create a paradox, kill the angels and hopefully come back to live because of the paradox.
Amy: “Stop it! You'll die.”
Rory: “Yeah, twice. In the same building, on the same night. Who else could do that?”
and also:
Amy: “You think you'll just come back to life?”
Rory: “When don't I?”
Oh god, Rory. I love you and your dark humor (especially concerning your unique ability to die over and over again). But that was the scene that then truly made me tear up. Amy's panic at realizing what Rory was about to do. And Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan were brilliant in that scene. It was not the dialogue and action so much as the emotion in their acting. You could feel how much these two characters love each other. So much that either of them would die for the other.
And then Rory telling Amy to push him off the roof if she really loves him, her “if it was me, could you do it?” and his “to save you, I could do anything” - tears brimming in my eyes. And then when Amy decided to jump with him... because... she could not let him die and then go on living without him... “together or not at all” and I was actually sobbing (and totally ignoring the Doctor and River). It was all about the Ponds.  And I thought this was it – and would have been ok with that, as cheesy as it would have been.
But... I even have to say sadly, because I would have liked that ending better than the actual one... the paradox worked and they all ended up alive on the graveyard Amy and the Doctor had already ended up before. And there's River, being annoying again, referring to her parents as Amy and Rory once again... until Rory sees the gravestone with his name on it and gets zapped back in time unceremoniously by a weeping angel. Poof, just like that. No emotions. No time to feel anything about it. Just... poof and he's gone. (Hey Moffat, I thought the Ponds' departure was going to be “heartbreaking”? My heart was breaking in the scene before, not this one.) I admit, Amy deciding to let herself get zapped back by the angel to be with Rory, so she'll “be with him. Like I should be. Me and Rory together.” and her and the Doctor crying and the Doctor begging her to stay and Amy's “Raggedy Man. Goodbye” - that made me tear up a little again. But again, that was due to the brilliant and emotional acting of Karen Gillan and Matt Smith, because I found this second death/departure scene for the Ponds really unnecessary. It was like “we let the Ponds depart – twice within a few minutes”. Because one proper departure isn't enough. As I said, I was disappointed by this episode. I remember crying my heart out both in “Doomsday” when Rose got trapped in that parallel world and in “Journey's End” when the Doctor had to wipe Donna's memory. “The Angels Take Manhattan” just did not manage to tear at my heartstrings as much as the other departures did (except Martha, but she left voluntarily and happy). What made this one a bit more heartbreaking was the fact that Amy did end up with Rory but then had to outlive him by 5 years, which means she spent those years all alone, without him, her family or friends and with never seeing the Doctor again. And again: basically no reaction from River there, although these are her parents who just left. I don't know, was that Alex Kingston, River Song or Moffat's writing?
But if anyone thought this was the end of the episode now... nope, to take a bit more of emotion out of the episode, we make it back inside the TARDIS with the Doctor and River. The Doctor is moping, River has to drive. I was really glad that River did not take the Doctor up on his offer to become his new companion – I would have stopped watching the show at least until she was gone again. We also get to hear that the Doctor should not travel alone again – twice. Once by River in person and once in the Afterword that River told Amy to write into that Melody Malone novel. The Doctor going back to Central Park, finding the ripped out page (because he doesn't like endings) and basically reading Amy's farewell letter to him was a sweet idea again. I did not need him to revisit little Amelia waiting in her garden, though. I mean, the mention of Amy one day fighting pirates and saving a whale in outerspace and oh, Vincent van Gogh (!) was a nice touch, and also the hopeful note this episode was thus ending on, with Amelia's smiling face upon hearing the TARDIS noise. I just think the Doctor constantly visiting and revisiting is cramming a bit too much into that one event that has already been dealt with episodes ago. At one point, it's just enough.
I still would have wished for a more emotional last Ponds episode, because – I don't if that's me or really Moffat's writing – I find it terribly hard to feel as much as I used to since he took over. I know, this probably labels me as one of those irrational Moffat haters who mobbed the Moff off Twitter. But if that's really how it is, if people are not allowed to voice their critical opinions and personal feelings regarding a show they (still) love anymore, then... I don't know, something's going really really wrong. And I don't care what you think about me now. It's my opinion and I make use of a concept that's called freedom of speech and voice my opinion, no matter if Mr. Moffat likes it or not.

Once again, the most important things about this episode in short:


Plus Side:
the intro sequence
fedora hat!
weeping angels (usually)
the Chandler novel
Karen Gillan's and Arthur Darvill's acting
Arthur Darvill's outfit

Down Side:
River Song
lack of atmosphere after the intro sequence
plot holes/ inconsistent canon
the Doctor healing River with regeneration energy


And yes, I am gonna miss Amy and Rory, and even more so Karen and Arthur. But I'm really looking forward to the Christmas special and Jenna-Louise Coleman as a new companion, too. I just hope, now that the Ponds are gone, we saw the last of River Song too. Definitely not gonna miss her.

If you're going to San Francisco... (aka "302 Vanished. 3 Must Find Them.") - An "Alcatraz" (2012) Review

Damn you FOX Network! Damn you for making me fall in love with yet another show that you decided to cancel after only a few episodes/ a season. Without a proper ending.

 When I started watching Firefly I knew what I was getting myself into. I'd never had thought that I would fall for this show as hard as I did, but... I cannot be helped. I don't regret one minute I spent watching it and then rewatching again and again.

Then I started watching Drive because Hello! Nathan Fillion (and Emma Stone and Amy Acker) and nice cars. I knew it had only six episodes, but I thought.. you know... maybe it's some sort of American attempt at a mini-series a la British television. Boy was I wrong. So, here's me, getting into this show, starting to care about the characters, drooling over Nathan starting to root for Nathan's character to get his wife back... and bam! Sorry, guys, it's over and there will be no solution to anything. We just stop right in the middle of the plot and leave it at that. Because when FOX decides “Oh, hey, we changed our mind, we don't like this show after all” it's off the air faster than you can say “FOX Network sucks”.

But hey, I understand. They rather drag shows into their seventh, eighth, ninth seasons although they're already half dead. Hey, just whip the exhausted donkey some more, maybe then it'll run faster again. I guess it's better to give long overdue and undignified deaths to shows like The X Files and House MD - you know, make the audience beg for those shows to end instead of giving new shows a chance to get established and maybe run for a few seasons. Maybe it's some sort of network policy there or something. So, I fell for another show on FOX. And I really didn't expect the 13 episodes of season 1 to be all there ever will be. This show's name is Alcatraz.
And I admit, I was a bit wary when I saw it aired on FOX Network. Because of my history with cancelled shows there. But they were advertising it on the German telly like it was a big hit in the US. And I thought “They won't go through all the trouble with buying the show and dubbing it and all if it wasn't successful and if there won't be another season.” It just doesn't seem smart and very profitable.
So I started watching the show online last Wednesday. Somewhere halfway through I got actually curious and wanted to know when the second season would air (since there's only 13 episodes to season 1 but the show mentioned 302 prisoners of Alcatraz and every episodes deals more or less with one of them). Yeah well, I should I have done my research beforehand because when I read that there was only this one season, I was already hooked and just had to watch the rest of it. And now I'm finished. I have to say, the cliffhanger ending wasn't as bad as I had expected, at least some questions were answered, but there are just so many questions I still have and that I want answers to. And... did I mention I liked this show. It was good.
(Alcatraz on IMDb)

 It's, well, obviously, about Alcatraz prison. In the story Alcatraz wasn't closed in 1963, but everyone on the island simply disappeared. And now they're popping up all over present day San Francisco. There are scenes in/on Alcatraz in 1960, showing the inmates during their time in prison, what they did there, how they got punished, how they got experimented with and so on. And then there are obviously scenes set in the present, where the prisoners show up again and kill and a special ops team tries to track them down. There's Detective Rebecca Madsen, who's grandfather Tommy was one of the prisoners that disappeared and came back and who they did some experiments with during his time in prison. At first I didn't really like Rebecca, but she grew on me pretty quickly. (Also, her “uncle” Ray is played by Robert Forster aka Arthur “Papa” Petrelli from Heroes). Then there's Dr. Diego Soto, called “Doc”, who actually owns a comic book store but is also an expert on Alcatraz who has written some books about it. He's played by Jorge Garcia (man, I like this guy, I just didn't like LOST) and becomes Rebecca's partner. The two of them then get recruited by a federal agent (played by Sam Neill) who's investigating the disappearances on Alcatraz and already has some secret headquarters on the island. You know, super equipped, with secret rooms, a hidden rebuilt of the cells on Alcatraz where he locks them up again after they caught them again. You realize from the beginning that he knows more or is more involved than he will let on, especially since he even got one of the old doctors – the one with the experiments, not aged - there as well. And then there's also Lucy Banerjee, played by Parminder Nagra, who seems to be his assistant at first, but there's something going on there as well. Parminder and her lovely accent was what sold me. I adore her. There's also some of the main wardens on Alcatraz who get featured a lot in the flashbacks, Warden James and E.B. Tiller. While I think Tiller just isn't the nicest of guys and enjoys his power, Warden James is darn creepy and he's also got this secret vault under the prison and... well let's say he's very fishy. Some of the prisoners are pretty creepy and brutal as well, sometimes it gets kind of bloody, but others you even kind of feel for. I got a little crush on the pilot episode's returned prisoner Jack Sylvane. Darn, he was cute. (Leave it to me to fall for cancelled shows and bad boys.) Also: Rebecca drives this nice, dark green, 1960s Ford Mustang (IMDb Trivia tells me it's a 1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback). It's such a pretty pretty car (such as the one she gets to drive in the season finale – another pretty pretty Mustang, this time a new one in TARDIS blue). Give me all the cars! This show sure knows how to make a girl happy.
I don't want to spoil too much, in case anyone wants to go through the agony of watching and liking the show, knowing it's gonna get ripped away from them after only 13 episodes that don't give you a real ending with closure. It's a good show. I like it. I might even buy the dvds should they come out in Germany. And I'm gonna rewatch it, especially since I want to try to solve a bit more of the puzzle, now that I've seen the answers given in the season finale and can watch for clues.

 I've always been interested in famous old prisons, one of them being Alcatraz and so this show kind of tapped right into that. Now I'm hooked again and doing research. Well, thanks a lot, Fox Network.

Now, THAT's my division! - Doctor Who 7x02 "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" Review

Yeah, sorry, Lestrade pun. I couldn't help myself.
Actually, the following review is pretty much me fangirling over Rupert Graves... and, surprisingly, enjoying this episode.


“Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”

What a stupid title.
So what we got was a little bit Jurassic Park in space – at first I wanted to say Primeval in space, but it really wasn't much like Primeval.
I really though I would hate this episode. Because the idea is so... cheesy. And I thought Moffat would just make it some big blockbuster-y action-y thing that doesn't have much to do with Doctor Who. But to my surprise, I actually liked this episode – even better than “Asylum of the Daleks”, the only thing of which I truly enjoyed was Oswin Oswald. But, thanks to Chris Chibnall who wrote it, “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” was actually a fun episode to watch. Which is really a surprise cause Chibnall wrote three of my least favourite episodes of Doctor Who (then again, he also wrote some of my favourite episodes of Torchwood - the world is a weird place).

So, at the beginning I thought I wouldn't like this episode too much. I thought it was just all really hurried and way to fast paced, with the Doctor popping in there, picking someone up, popping out again. Also, what I recognized in the Moffat era is the episode beginning somewhere in the middle of the action, but it's only a tiny bit that doesn't get much explained, and then we're somewhere else and the real episode begins. That's something I don't really like all that much. I loved the good old times, the Doctor and Rose/Martha/Donna/at times the Ponds arriving somewhere in the TARDIS and then the action begins. So, yeah.
But:
I enjoyed the character of Queen Nefretiti. She was cute, flirty (not overly though, not like River Song), a good person, yet fierce, and a powerful woman who can actually be girly and womanly and doesn't have to be some female warrior. I also loved Amy/Nefretiti. They could have become great friends. Also, Nefretiti sacrificing herself for the dinosaurs... and the rest of the gang... aww, let me love you! Bold move. And how she took Argus Filch down... You go, Nefretiti! (Also, fun fact: I looked her up on IMDb and the actress was also in the Hamlet movie with David Tennant... aww, all in the family.)
Rupert Graves. Do I have to say more? Ok, Riddell is a big game hunter, which shouldn't make him all to sympathetic. But... hello! The Indiana Jones outfit? So hot! And... well, I just love Rupert Graves, ok? Have done so ever since I saw him in A Room With A View (way too late, because he was so young I felt like a pedophile) and especially after seeing him in Maurice (oh, he does have a big gun, yes he does... wait... what?! I didn't say anything, he was lovely in that movie. I especially liked his Cockney accent and never looked during the naked scenes. So, there you go.) and DI Lestrade is my favourite thing about Sherlock. So... Rupert Graves just made this episode for me. I also really liked his character, but that's him, he can make any character likeable. I loved his flirting with Nefretiti (boy, but they are cute together!) and Amy (refusing him was real prove for how much Amy loves Rory – I wouldn't have said no). Yeah, shall I go on? Because Rupert Graves was like... my favourite part of the episode. I know it's shallow, but I loved looking at him. And in the end, with his sleeves rolled up and the stun gun? HOT!
Oh, and Rory is a Weasley! Ok, I loved Mark Williams aka Arthur Weasley as Rory's dad Brian. He was adorable. I only have one problem, but that might be me not properly remembering my Doctor Who canon: Wasn't Rory's dad at the Ponds' wedding? And if so, why not? Because if he was, he certainly wasn't played by Mark Williams or I would remember? So who's the one not getting their canon right? Moffat or me? But that aside: Brian Williams was another highlight of this episode. I loved the father/son moments, I loved how he seems to adore Amy, I loved how he was so confused and a bit scared and didn't like to travel initially but after his adventure with the Doctor couldn't stop. I loved how he carries all this stuff around. Golf balls!
Ok, I'm not a fan of Argus Filch, I certainly wasn't one of Solomon. I'm also not sure we really needed David Bradley in this episode, because there were already two other quite famous British actors and at some point it's just too much? Why not scatter them over a view episodes? And the character really could have been played by someone else. Also, the character of Solomon... well, I get he's a typical villain, very villainous and all... but threatening Nefretiti the way he did... cause I understood his implications as either torture or rape... or both... well, maybe a bit to much for a kid's show? Although one could argue they might not understand his ... admittedly vague... threat the way I did.
Silurian ship! Well, I'm alright with them, can even like them, when they're not the main villain of the episode. (As I said: Chibnall wrote three of my least favourite episodes of Doctor Who, the series 5 Silurian two-parter included). I like Madam Vastra (and Jenny) and having the spaceship be a Silurian arc was a nice idea.
Dinosaurs! I like them! Always did and am still very fascinated by them (hey, I love Primeval). I actually started writing a Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble dinosaurs fanfic, but it never got finished and now... well, that's not the point here. Lovely dinosaurs. They weren't really all that scary, but fun and that's ok too. I loved Tricey. I want to ride on a dinosaur as well. Actually, I always wanted a dinosaur for a pet when I was little. But then, who didn't? So I felt this fit really well with the children's show aspect of Doctor Who and dealing with stuff that children like and are interested in from a different angle.
The robots: a bit ridiculous, but again very cool from the kid's show angle. And funny. After I while I quite enjoyed their bickering. Again: not very scary.
Favourite things about the episode:
Rupert Graves.
Queen Nefretiti being a BAMF.
Amy Pond! See, that's what was so wrong about last episode: Amy was some stupid woman damsel in distress there, fainting and being converted into a dalek and now... she can be so awesome. I mean, in her little group, with Nefretiti and Riddell, she kind of took over the role of the Doctor. Exploring, pressing buttons, trying to find out stuff. She was brilliant! And then in the end, when Riddell says that taking out (stunning) the dinosaurs was a two men job and Amy took the stun gun and went, saying she was as good as two men and Riddell, the big game hunter, could help... omg Amy, let me love you! (Chris Chibnall, let me love you too!) Ok, these huge differences in writing Amy might make her seem like somewhat of an inconsistent character, but I just chose to ignore the damsel in distress portrayal and focus on awesome!Amy. Because she is awesome.
Rory and Brian Williams flying the spaceship. I loved the idea.
Adding up, what I really liked best was that the Doctor wasn't some kind of almighty hero/ godlike figure, he actually got help from his friends and companions and they saved the day together. I like that. Because that's how it's supposed to be. The Doctor is no good on his own, we know that.
Yeah, so... nice and fun episode. Maybe not too scary or exciting, but with superb guest stars and really good characterization. I'd like to see more of that.
(Of course I'll have to rewatch the episode tomorrow when it's not... well past 2 am and I might be able to be more objected and not as distracted by Rupert Graves)

I'm not a dalek. - Doctor Who 7x01 "Asylum of the Daleks" Review

Guess, who?

The Doctor is back!





I just watched “Asylum of the Daleks” for the first time and I don't hate Moffat as much as I usually do, although there's, as always, some things I just didn't like. But hey, I think we're better than average here, so... it's still good. Maybe I just missed getting a new episode of Doctor Who so much that I'm too emotional and happy they're back to actually judge this episode. I might dislike it when rewatching. Ok, first reactions:


 - We're on Skaro! Well, the Doctor is, actually. Still: Oh my gosh! This cannot be good. (Of course it's a trap, you idiot! OMG Doctor, get away!) - Also, never mind that Skaro is actually timelocked since the Time War and the Doctor simply cannot be there (but I have to admit I didn't remember that until I saw some reactions on Tumblr and went like... Right, there was something about the Doctor not able to go back to Gallifrey because it's timelocked, just like Skaro - well... I guess Moffat doesn't take canon too seriously, and since I had forgotten, maybe some other people did, too... also it was something that RTD had written back when DW was still awesome and sometimes I think Moffat's motto is "nevermind what's been there before, I'll do my own shit".

 - So Amy is a model now? Well, should have figured, after what we saw of her in “Closing Time”. Remember? Petrichor? Her perfume? And the little fangirl?
Well, I was actually slightly disappointed by that. That's just my problem with how Moffat treats women. I mean, Amy traveled the universe with the Doctor (and Rory), she fought monsters and aliens and... well, after all she's been through becoming a model just seems really stupid and shallow, doesn't it? I mean,... really?
And how can you make Amy and Rory get a divorce? And let Amy treat Rory the way she does? Stop it, Moffat. Just, stop it! Ok once they're on the Asylum planet we see pretty quickly that Amy still cares about Rory – and I bet everyone went: Of course she still cares about him. We knew that along! Because really, how can this not just have been one of Moffat's (stupid) ploys? Messing with the audience. Making us think that the Ponds and not very much in love anymore. Freak the fandom out a little bit. Typical Moffat.
Aaaaaaand later on: See, they ARE still very much in love with each other. Amy wouldn't just stop loving Rory. She'd never. This is the Ponds we're talking about. She just was just letting Rory go, kicked him out because.... but... what is this fuckery with Amy not being able to have children because of Demon's Run?! WTF, Moffat? See, again: Moffat's treatment of women. Amy is a model. Amy is woman and should be able to have children (let's forget about River Song, she doesn't really count cause she never grew up as the Ponds' daughter). She can't have children though, which rids her of one of her purposes in life. Therefore she has to let Rory go so he can have children with some other woman. That's just so... well, I'm not ok with this. Also, they could at least have talked about this instead of just getting a divorce. Ok, so they got back together in the end, and Rory got to do his adorable little victory dance and we know they're gonna have some super awesome makeup sex and live happily ever after.... (unfortunately without their adorable <i>Pond Life</i> Ood butler, cause the Doctor took it back home)... but... meh. I was really disappointed about everything Pond.

 - Daleks! I loved the daleks! Lots of daleks! Most of them old daleks. The frightening ones, not those Power Ranger coloured things we got in series 5. Proper daleks. And oh my fucking god... LOADS of them! Also: a dalek without its shell! Did we even get to see one of those since Classic Who? I remember them from the very first dalek episode, but in New Who...? I might have been a bit frightened there. Before they asked the Doctor for help. WTF?! Coward daleks? Such a thing exists? I think the daleks were stripped of all their feelings except anger? Then, where does the fear come from? How...? Mr. Moffat...? Ok, let's accept the frightened daleks. At least we got a lot of them. And we got something even better: Insane daleks! Yay! Personally, I think insane people are somehow frightening already. But insane daleks?! Half damaged, insane, locked in daleks that even the rest of the daleks are scared of? Where's my fucking sofa so I can hide behind it? Ok, I've seen life size daleks before. Those things are frikkin' scary even if they're not alive. So... the circumstances of this episode already kind of gave me nightmares in itself. Sadly, the rest of the episode didn't. I mean, I got a small fright every now and then... Rory eye to eye with that lifeless dalek that first starts to request “eggs” (oh, Rory) and then finally manages to say EXTERMINATE, really slowly.... that was scary. Those dancing people Amy encountered that were actually daleks... freaky and scary. Amy slowly turning into a dalek? Super scary! But the rest... well... I think there was a lot of potential. But when the Doctor got attacked by all those daleks in intensive care... I was a bit disappointed and not frightened at all. I mean, I still remember how that one dalek in “Dalek” managed to scare the Doctor (Nine – oh Christ Eccleston how I miss you) nearly to death. Now we got... several daleks and... not scary. Sorry. To be honest, I felt the whole episode somehow anticlimactic. It started off great, but the whole way across the planet and to the teleport and then the Doctor's way to Oswin... well... meh. (Also, I totally knew they were just gonna teleport into the TARDIS instead of into the parliament. I so knew it. Ok, I have to give Moffat this one: the plot twist with Oswin actually being a dalek: That was good. Pretty good. Very unexpected (at least on my side). So let's talk about Oswin, shall we?

 - I loved Oswin Oswald. Jenna-Louise Coleman is adorable and I fell for her instantly. Having her bake soufflé is... well, it was alright. I'm not talking about the feminist notion of that and just take her as a girl who likes to bake and eat sweet stuff. Just like me, and I'm definitely not a Moffat girl. Also, she listens to “Carmen” and is really good with computers, really smart, sassy, sweet and fun... and a nerd. And human. So, I really really liked her. And I just loved her banter with the Doctor and Rory. Jenna-Louise is gonna rock as a proper companion! I also really liked the ending. When the Doctor told Oswin she's actually been killed by the daleks and now one of them... yeah, there were tears in my eyes. Not streaming down my face, but I felt so so so sorry for her. She was so smart and lovely and all that. And then, in the end, she even saves the Doctor (and by extension the Ponds). Because she's NOT A DALEK. She's HUMAN. Just because they tried to make her dalek doesn't mean she has to actually become one. Because they take away all your nice feelings, your love and all, and add anger... but she refused! She actually refused to let that happen to her. Because she fought the daleks all this time. And she won't stop. Awww!


So, yeah. That's it. Overall, I didn't love this episode (and I hated what Moffat did to the Ponds). Except for the amount of daleks, and the idea of the asylum, the plot was... not really as epic as I would have expected. I guess I just saw the promo pics with all those daleks and read they were getting all the old daleks they could find and I thought it was gonna be HUGE. And then they showed these huge amounts of daleks pretty much right at the beginning and the episode was kind of lacking an epic showdown.
But then there was Oswin Oswald. Who brought the fun and lightness that I so love about this show. The adorable quirkiness. And the heart. Because Oswin is a character who warms the heart. And she doesn't have to be angry and fierce as Amy was to show her strength. She can be a quirky nerdy smart girl that loves soufflé. And still be strong. And save the Doctor (and the day). She doesn't have to be a fighter, physically, as River Song. (Well, I'm not gonna discuss this here now, everything Rose and Martha and Donna and early Amy vs. later Amy.... I'm gonna do this in another post.) Oswin is just one of those people the Doctor meets and that instantly worm themselves into your heart, because they're so lovable. I'm not saying Moffat can't do that. He wrote Sally Sparrow in “Blink” and she's definitely one of them. But usually his long-term companions or re-occurings aren't like that. I really hope he's not gonna screw up Jenna-Louise's really companion character. And I really hope he's not gonna pull another River Song on us (meaning we see her die in an episode and then later go back and meet her, having the Doctor know she's gonna die). But I really her character is gonna be much like Oswin. Oswin saved this episode. And she gave me hope and made me look forward to this series and especially to the Christmas Special when we're finally gonna meet her properly. Please don't screw this up, Moffat.

Oh, and: *dalek voice on* Doctor Who? Doctor Who? Doctor Who? Doctor Who?.... *dalek voice off*